Lunch success

Local charity fund-raisers Cheryl Birse and Irene Gillies held a volunteers’ lunch at the Cathedral Hall on Tuesday, November 15.

Irene is chairperson for mission and service within Brechin Cathedral, with the funds raised going to the charity Goodwill and Growth Africa.

The speaker for the day was Sarah Kettles, who rendered a very informative talk on the improvements to the High Street, especially the Merchants House.

Some of the timbers from the roof go back to AD 1340, and these appear to have originated from Denmark.

Some recent roof timbers originating from Scotland from the roof were dated AD 1470.

The Merchants House will not continue to be a museum, as it is being made into two houses, with many of the original features still intact.

Once all is completed there will be talks held in the museum explaining all that has been achieved.

A sum of £44 has been raised through donations to the talk and will be forwarded to the charity Goodwill and Growth for the development for the First Steps Pre-School in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, situated between Pietermaritzburg, and Durban, South Africa.

Progress is steadily being made there and hopefully soon the ground and the pre-school will be handed over to the people of the Valley. A scheme of open-learning with Gael is currently training four ladies as pre-school assistants.

The ladies will be holding their Burns Supper on January 28, with a full list of voluntary and expert speakers.